Aircraft generally include networks of pipes for feeding fuel from the fuel tanks, which are usually housed in the fuselage and/or in the wings, to the engines.
FIG. 1 represents by way of example the interior of an aircraft fuselage, and more particularly shows a tank wall 10 delimiting a fuel tank and a floor 12.
There is seen in this figure part of a network 14 of fuel feed pipes. Certain pipes 16a, 16b of this network 14 are provided with a connector 18 fitted into an end of the pipe and including a flange 20 to which is fixed one end of a connecting pipe 22 the other end of which is fixed in an analogous manner to another connector 18 fitted into another pipe 16b, 16a. In the typical example shown in FIG. 1, certain pipes 16a of the aforementioned pipes are mounted through the tank wall 10 and form fuel outlet couplings through this tank wall. As FIG. 1 shows, the connecting pipes 22 are generally straight pipes.
This method of assembling pipes, or more generally conduits, by connectors fitted to them, is also encountered with the pipes housed in the wings of aircraft, some of which are mounted through ribs of the wings.
As a general rule, the mounting of each connector by fitting it into the corresponding conduit or pipe is usually carried out by hand, the operator taking care to achieve a satisfactory direction of the axis of the connector. In the usual case of employing a straight connecting pipe, the axis of the connector must therefore be aligned with the axis of another pipe to which the aforementioned connector is intended to be connected by the connecting pipe. It is to be noted that this other pipe may if appropriate already be equipped with its own connector. In the present description, the axis of a conduit, notably of a pipe, is defined as being the axis of the outlet section concerned of the conduit.
FIG. 2 shows a mounting operation entailing force-fitting a connector 18 into a pipe 16a passing through the tank wall 10 from FIG. 1.
During such an operation of mounting the connector, there exists a risk of the connector passing through a position in which the axis 24 of the connector departs from its nominal direction 26, which corresponds to the axis of the pipe 16a, by an angle θ greater than the maximum permitted angle of relative movement for the connector, in which case the latter runs the risk of being damaged. The risk of damage is particularly marked when the connector includes a seal on its exterior surface.